Chapter 160
Chapter 160
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: The Constellation of Cygnus (1)
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“Haaah.”
Low and deep.
He took a breath.
Circulating mana throughout his body, he activated the Stigma of Canes Venatici to survey his surroundings.
—A vast temple glowing with a soft light.
A silver werewolf standing in the center of the temple.
“Grrrrrr!”
A low growl escaped from Riak.
Between strands of his silver mane, blue lightning crackled fiercely.
“Here I come, kid.”
With that quiet warning.
-Kwwaaaaang!!
The temple shook as Riak's body shot high into the air.
A speed surpassing sound.
A powerful sonic boom erupted, sweeping through the area.
“Hup!”
He exhaled sharply and thrust his spear.
Klaaaang!
With a harsh metallic clang, his body was pushed back.
A tingling shock coursed through his palm.
“This is just the beginning!!”
Riak's attacks came in a flurry.
His muscles swelled as if to burst, and blue flames gathered on his sharp claws.
-Fwoooosh!
At the same time.
Blue flames began to burn on the spear Oh-jin gripped.
A clash of Lightning Flames.
If Riak's flames were ferocious enough to devour all, Oh-jin's were sharp and precise.
“Is this all you've got!!!”
Riak casually deflected the flame-wreathed spearhead and lowered his stance.
He spun around, delivering a back kick like a horse lashing out with its hind legs.
-Kwang!!
“Ugh!”
With a sound like an exploding cannonball, Oh-jin's body was sent flying toward the temple ceiling.
Thwip! Thwip!
Deploying his wires, Oh-jin twisted in mid-air, planted his feet on the ceiling, and stood upside down.
“Still moving like a rat!”
Riak looked up and extended his back leg.
He crouched low like a track athlete, then stomped the ground hard and launched himself into the air.
-Thwip!
Before Riak could reach him.
He fired a wire at the temple ceiling, securing it, then let it out long as he sprinted along the temple wall.
“You should know it's useless!”
Having leaped into the air, Riak twisted his body toward Oh-jin, who was running along the wall.
Crackle!
He 'stepped' on the blue lightning that formed in mid-air, changing his direction to leap again.
“That thing is so damn broken.”
Oh-jin clicked his tongue as he watched Riak move freely through the air by stepping on the lightning traces.
The moment one masters stepping on lightning traces, two-dimensional planar combat transforms into three-dimensional combat.
Literally, it was a broken skill that enabled movement on a different 'dimension'.
‘In the past, I would have been helpless against this.’
Oh-jin's eyes gleamed sharply.
He kicked off the wall, descended to the floor, and slid across it.
Riak, who had been dashing through the air on lightning traces, dropped from above, swinging his claws.
‘Now!’
The Stigma of Horologium emitted a glow.
A frozen world.
Within time that flowed slowly, like a slow-motion movie.
‘Think.’
He accelerated his thoughts.
He thoroughly analyzed and understood Riak's movements, which had been too fast to follow with his eyes.
‘Charge.’
Crackle!
Lightning gathered in his right hand.
Once, twice, three times.
The condensed lightning blazed fiercely.
“Hup!”
Dodging Riak's sharp attack with minimal movement, he spun around and swung his right fist, condensed with lightning, at Riak.
-Kwwaaaaang!!
“Grrrrrr!!”
A perfectly executed counter.
Struck by the fist, Riak's body was violently thrown back.
-Thwip!
A wire wrapped around Riak's recoiling body.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
Oh-jin roared and swung his arm wide.
Crash!
Crack! Thud!
K-thoom!
Screech! Boom!!
Bound by the wire, Riak's body was repeatedly smashed into the temple walls and floor.
‘The finishing blow.’
Oh-jin's eyes gleamed sharply.
Whoooosh!!
The wire contracted rapidly, pulling Riak's body closer.
-Fwoooooosh!!!
A brilliant blue flame blazed.
The silver spearhead pierced Riak.
-Klaaaang!
“Kuh-haaaack!!”
Despite piercing him squarely in the stomach, the sound wasn't of flesh being torn, but of a thick iron plate being struck.
“Cough! Cough!”
Pushed back, Riak coughed up blood.
It couldn't be called a fatal blow, but he had clearly succeeded in inflicting what could be called an 'injury'.
Against a powerful foe he couldn't even last five seconds against just half a year ago.
“Keuh! Kuhahahaha!!! Good! Kid! You've finally become a worthy opponent!”
Riak let out a hearty laugh and stomped his foot.
Cr-cr-crackle!!!
A deep blue lightning, incomparable to before, enveloped his body.
“Ugh!”
Oh-jin's expression twisted at the dizzying pressure emanating from Riak.
“Haa, haa!”
A pressure crushing his entire body.
His consciousness flickered white for a moment from the overwhelming sensation he had never experienced before.
‘Crazy.’
Oh-jin stared at Riak in disbelief.
Riak's true power, which he had been hiding until now.
A suffocating pressure ensnared Oh-jin.
The pressure was so intense it was hard to even stand properly, but.
‘It's not unbearable.’
He took a step forward and raised his spear.
“Grrrrrr! Yes! If you crumble from just this, you can't be called the Star of Apostasy!”
Riak grinned, looking at Oh-jin.
‘He's really—growing at a terrifying pace.’
When he first met Oh-jin.
He had been pathetically rolling on the floor in just five seconds.
But what about now?
‘I suppose I can no longer face him while suppressing my true power.’
A dry laugh escaped Riak's lips.
A monster.
Could there be a more fitting title to describe him?
‘This is quite embarrassing for a spirit.’
A being who inherited a part of a Constellation's soul.
Though not to the extent of a Constellation, a spirit is also bound by the constraints of the law.
In other words.
A spirit, like a Constellation, is a 'transcendent being'.
And now, Oh-jin had forced that transcendent being to draw out his true power.
‘I might be overtaken by that guy soon.’
That's how astonishingly fast Oh-jin was growing.
“Grrrr!”
Riak let out a ferocious growl and lowered his stance.
‘—But.’
Cr-cr-crackle!!
A torrent of blue lightning swept through the area.
“I won't let you catch up to me quietly!!”
Kwwaaaaang!!
Exploding lightning.
A silver streak, blazing with blue flames, shot across the temple.
“Ugh?!”
Riak appeared before him in the blink of an eye.
A massive fist swung at his head.
Oh-jin angled his spear to deflect the punch.
But.
-Kwwaaaaaaaang!!!
“Keo-heok!!”
Pushed by the immense force, Oh-jin's body shot out like a bullet and slammed into the ceiling.
-Thump! Thud! Thwack!
His body, having hit the ceiling, plummeted to the floor only to bounce back up again.
“Son of a, bii, tch…!”
Deflect the punch, my ass.
Even though he had blocked with all his might, the remaining shock alone sent his body bouncing between the temple's ceiling and floor like a damn bouncy ball.
If not for Vega's barrier, his body would have been turned to pulp long ago.
“Hup!”
While being shaken violently, he desperately tried to regain his posture.
‘Focus.’
He used the Stigma of Horologium once more.
In the slowed time, he quickly readjusted his mana.
-Wooooong!
The mana of the Dragon Vein flowed out, and deep blue lightning coiled around his body.
Cr-cr-crackle!
The lightning condensed.
‘Three times isn't enough.’
Even five was far from enough.
‘But any more than that…’
Would strain his body.
After a moment's hesitation, Oh-jin grinned.
“Since when did I care about things like that?”
Besides, the inside of the temple was protected by Vega's power.
It didn't matter if he pushed himself a little.
Cr-cr-crackle!!
Terrifying lightning condensed in both his hands.
“Keeeeuuuugh!!”
Crack! C-crack!
A gruesome sound of bones cracking echoed from his hands as he compressed the mana, and he felt a dizzying pain.
“Kuhahaha!! Excellent! A true warrior never spares his body in battle!”
Riak stared at Oh-jin with eyes full of joy.
Whenever he saw Oh-jin trying to surpass his limits, something stirred in his chest.
It swelled up.
The emotion called 'fighting spirit', which had not stirred for hundreds of years.
“Come! Kid!!!”
“Alright, here I come, you bastard!!”
Kwwaaaaaaaang!!!
With a deafening roar, Riak and Oh-jin kicked off the ground simultaneously.
Just before the torrents of blue lightning were about to collide.
[—Enough.]
Snap.
Vega lightly snapped her fingers.
With just that simple gesture.
The ferocious torrent of lightning vanished as if it were a mirage.
“M-My Lady?”
“Huh?”
Oh-jin and Riak, whose power had suddenly vanished, turned to look at Vega with bewildered expressions.
[You've gotten too heated for a sparring match.]
Vega sighed and stood between them.
She glared at Oh-jin and put her hands on her hips with a stern expression.
[Has it been so long since you've recovered that you're trying to overdo it again?]
“Ugh. Sorry, I got a little carried away.”
Oh-jin scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.
As she said, he had gotten too heated at the end.
[Haa. Honestly, I can't with you.]
Vega sighed and gently caressed Oh-jin's cheek.
[It's nice that you've been staying here in the Sanctuary lately, but I think you're pushing yourself too hard.]
“You're working hard too, Nunna, so I can't just sit still.”
It had been a week since he returned from Paradise.
Oh-jin, not wanting to stay alone in the house without Ha-eun, had moved his residence to Vega's Sanctuary.
‘I was planning on focusing on training for a while anyway.’
Having taken out the Black Star Organization's 6th and 7th Executors in just one month, he had drawn too much attention.
Of course, Sakaki was officially announced as the one who killed Sosuke, but he couldn't let his guard down.
‘To avoid catching the eye of the Queen of Ophiuchus, staying in the Sanctuary is the best option.’
His plan was to hide in the Sanctuary and focus on training for a while, until the Black Star Organization's movements became clear.
After all, there was no safer place than the Sanctuary, where Vega could draw out her full power.
Besides, he needed to get used to the power he gained from achieving the Sixth Star of Black Heaven, so it was killing two birds with one stone.
‘And I have a good sparring partner in Riak.’
Oh-jin looked around, wanting to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
[Stay still.]
Vega gently flew over and placed a hand on Oh-jin's cheek.
Fizz, crackle!
Small sparks flew, momentarily enveloping Oh-jin's body.
In the blink of an eye, the beads of sweat drenching his body evaporated.
‘Wait, you can do this with lightning?’
Oh-jin's jaw dropped in astonishment.
He couldn't even imagine how much delicate control it would take to evaporate only the sweat on his skin.
“Thanks.”
[Come, lie here and rest.]
Vega, sitting on the floor, gently patted her thighs.
Every time he finished training to the point of exhaustion, she would tell him to lie down with his head on her lap like this, but he couldn't help but hesitate each time.
[Ahem. Hurry up now.]
Vega said with a feigned stern expression as Oh-jin hesitated.
Oh-jin sighed as if he had no choice and rested his head on her lap.
[Fufu.]
Vega smiled faintly as she gently stroked Oh-jin's head, which rested on her lap.
[…….]
Then, suddenly.
Vega's expression stiffened as if she remembered something.
She stopped her gentle stroking, her face contorted into a complex expression that Oh-jin, lying with his head on her soft lap, couldn't see.
“Vega?”
Just as Oh-jin tilted his head in confusion and tried to lift it.
“Hahaha!! Wow, you two are really close, huh? Is it because you only have one Apostle that you dote on him so much?”
A cheerful voice echoed through the vast temple.
In the direction of the young, slender voice stood a boy with dark blue hair.
The boy was dressed in clothes so flamboyant they looked bizarre.
A six-stranded necklace made of various jewels.
On the boy's fingers were a staggering twenty rings, two on each finger, each with a large gemstone.
As the saying goes, 'too much of a good thing,' no matter how expensive the jewels, wearing them so crudely should have looked tacky.
But the boy's perfect appearance, as if sculpted by a god, erased even that tackiness.
[…Deneb?]
The name that escaped Vega's lips as she stared at the boy with surprised eyes.
It was the name of the Constellation of Cygnus, one of the three Constellations known as the 'North Stars'.